US8218785B2 - Conversation assistant for noisy environments - Google Patents

Conversation assistant for noisy environments Download PDF

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Publication number
US8218785B2
US8218785B2 US12/434,410 US43441009A US8218785B2 US 8218785 B2 US8218785 B2 US 8218785B2 US 43441009 A US43441009 A US 43441009A US 8218785 B2 US8218785 B2 US 8218785B2
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infrared
receiver
angular range
infrared waves
waves
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US20100142722A1 (en
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Thomas E. von Wiegand
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SENSIMETRICS CORP
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R27/00—Public address systems

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to wireless communication systems and methods, and in particular to assistive listening systems that facilitate communication in noisy environments.
  • wireless systems may be used to effectively receive and transmit audio signals.
  • sounds produced by an audio source are modulated and transmitted wirelessly over, for example, an infrared (IR) or radio signal.
  • IR infrared
  • This signal is intercepted by a receiver that reconstructs the original sounds and plays them back.
  • This method is employed by many commercially-available headphone systems such as the Sony MDR-IF240RK Wireless Headphone System and the Koss HB60 Infrared Clip-On Wireless Headphones.
  • Headsets like the Etymotic Research Link-It and the Comlink Personal Sound Enhancer can produce audio signals using a microphone and wireless transmitter and can also receive signals using a built-in wireless receiver and earpiece speaker.
  • a talker's speech is picked up by an individual body-worn microphone and transmitted wirelessly over a relatively wide angle, but short range.
  • Each listener wears a receiver that has a narrow reception angle.
  • the received signal can be converted to an acoustic signal by an earphone.
  • Each person in the conversation can have both a transmitter and a receiver, enabling multi-way wireless signal transmission for speech communication in noisy settings.
  • a directional receiver allows the use of a simple frequency modulation (FM) scheme and provides the user with a mechanism for selecting the source to be heard.
  • FM frequency modulation
  • the directionality of the receiver reduces the problem of signal distortion.
  • a directional receiver will attenuate sources outside of a limited angular range relative to those within the limited angular range, e.g., angles relative to a straight-ahead direction, but there can still be some mixing of modulated carriers.
  • FM is known to be highly resistant to co-channel interference because of an effect called “FM capture.” The capture effect is responsible for the much higher quality and noise-immune reception of an FM radio broadcast compared to AM.
  • the high degree of directionality that can be easily achieved with an IR receiver e.g., by use of a lens or shaped ‘blinders’, together with the strength of the FM capture effect, supports the use of FM to facilitate this multi-way application.
  • a receiving system can have multiple directional IR receivers for dividing a room or other region into sectors, and an FM demodulator (individually, or separate circuits collectively) for receiving IR signals in each region and providing them to other equipment, such as a recording device or a transmission device, e.g., as part of a teleconferencing system.
  • an FM demodulator individually, or separate circuits collectively for receiving IR signals in each region and providing them to other equipment, such as a recording device or a transmission device, e.g., as part of a teleconferencing system.
  • FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the light and information flow in an embodiment of a wireless communications system.
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram according to an embodiment of the wireless communications system.
  • FIGS. 3 a and FIG. 3 b contain photographs illustrating an embodiment of a transmitter and receiver.
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic of another embodiment of an embodiment for creating receiving sectors.
  • FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of the light and information flow in an embodiment of a wireless communication system.
  • Multi-way signal transmission is achieved using infra-red (IR) signal transmission.
  • IR infra-red
  • two talkers transmit over a wide angular range, while the listener receives over a more limited angular range, so that (as shown) the listener is substantially only receiving from one of the two talkers.
  • the directionality of IR can be easily manipulated, e.g., through the use of a lens or blinders.
  • Making the receiver directional achieves two goals: (1) it provides a natural mechanism for a listener to select the talker to be heard (for example, by attaching the system to the head, selection is effected via turning the head toward the desired talker); and (2) by reducing co-channel interference, it allows frequency modulation (FM) of a single carrier frequency to be used for all channels.
  • FM frequency modulation
  • FIG. 2 A simplified block diagram of the transmitter subsystem 100 and the receiver subsystem 200 is shown in FIG. 2 .
  • a directional microphone 101 is coupled to a modulation input of an FM Modulator 102 , and can also be coupled to an input of a Voice Operated Switch (VOX) 103 .
  • the FM Modulator drives an IR LED 104 .
  • the VOX can be used to enable the LED output only when speech is present; i.e., the transmitter is powered up when speech is detected and powered down when speech is not detected.
  • an optical filter 201 is used to admit a desired set of wavelengths, such as near IR, and reject other wavelengths of light.
  • a photodiode 202 produces a signal that provides input to an FM Demodulator 203 that provides a Carrier Detect (CD) signal to un-mute the output.
  • the demodulated audio is amplified in amplifier 204 and provided to the user, e.g., through an earphone 205 when a valid carrier is being received.
  • the receiver can be made directional, e.g., by using a lens or blinders over the photodiode or over the filter and photodiode.
  • a power source (not shown) is used to operate the system, which may be internal to any of the subcomponents, or power may be conveyed from an external source.
  • FIGS. 3 a and 3 b show an embodiment including a one-piece unit utilizing a short bifurcated boom.
  • the boom can be constructed so as not to impede the view of and access to the mouth during eating.
  • the boom contains a noise-canceling microphone.
  • the photodiode receiver is located on a flexible gooseneck to accommodate situations such as automobile travel when the talker is not in front of the listener.
  • the receiver can be provided within a tube with a geometry that defines a limited angular range of reception.
  • the gooseneck would normally be oriented in the same direction as the IR emitter support prong in order to facilitate easy aiming by pointing the head in the general direction of the talker.
  • An earpiece can be designed to permit left or right ear operation.
  • the unit can have fixed horizontal and also vertical angles of reception that receive signals in a limited angular range while substantially attenuating signals received from sources at other angles outside that range.
  • the unit can include controls that allow the user to adjust the vertical and horizontal reception angles of the receiver. Wider reception angles provide increased freedom of movement by allowing for the vertical and horizontal head motions of the user. On the other hand, using a wider reception angle can sacrifice some of the benefits of directionality.
  • the horizontal angle can be up to +/ ⁇ 45° from a center line, and be variable in a range that is within a range of about +/ ⁇ 10° to +/ ⁇ 45° from a center line (e.g., in front of the user), or within a range within about +/ ⁇ 20° up to +/ ⁇ 35° from a center line.
  • a vertical angle can be up to about +/ ⁇ 45°, or some smaller angle.
  • the controls can operate in a continuous manner, such as moving a microphone continuously within a tube, or through a set of discrete steps. The control can be implemented by altering the receiver from one setting to another, or by using multiple receivers with different characteristics such that the control selects one of the receivers to use.
  • the controls can be operated and adjusted by a user during operation, or they can be used to set angular parameters in advance for all later uses.
  • FIG. 4 shows another application in which up to n transmitters can communicate with a single input audio device, such as a line input of a tape recorder or a transmission system of a teleconferencing system.
  • Transmitters 551 , 552 , 553 , and 554 which can represent users and have substantially the same construction as subsystem 100 ( FIG. 2 ), are distributed throughout the room.
  • a multi-channel conference unit 500 has directional receivers 501 - 50 n , that effectively divide the area into sectors, e.g., eight sectors, and receive signals transmitted by transmitters 551 - 554 .
  • the sectors can be designed to have little overlap between them. In cases where there is one transmitter in a sector, that transmitter is unambiguously selected.
  • each directional IR receiver would include an FM demodulator.
  • multiple transmitters operating on a single carrier frequency can be automatically selected based on their direction relative to the conference unit without recourse to manual frequency or code setting.
  • FIG. 4 also represents a conferencing application, such as telephone conferencing, in which the users are equipped with IR receivers having relatively narrow reception patterns, as pictured in FIG. 1 , in addition to broad-angle IR transmitters.
  • the multi-channel conference unit 500 also has omnidirectional IR emission, in addition to the multiple narrow reception directions 501 - 50 n shown here as sectors.
  • Each look direction of the multi-channel conference unit 500 will typically receive at most one valid signal from one of the individual transmitter systems 551 - 554 .
  • Look directions containing a valid signal as indicated internally by a carrier detect signal, will cause that signal to be switched onto a common mixing bus to be sent out to the telephone or other conferencing input.
  • each of the individual transmitter systems 551 - 554 uses a Voice Operated Switch (VOX) to switch on its omnidirectional emission
  • VOX Voice Operated Switch
  • the individual units 551 - 554 function as described above, with broad or omnidirectional emission and relatively narrow reception, as pictured in FIG. 1 .
  • a user merely points the unit (aims his or her head) at the user they wish to hear. They may also in the same way point their unit at the telephone unit when they wish to hear the telephone.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Optical Communication System (AREA)
  • Circuit For Audible Band Transducer (AREA)
  • Telephone Set Structure (AREA)
US12/434,410 2008-05-05 2009-05-01 Conversation assistant for noisy environments Expired - Fee Related US8218785B2 (en)

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US12/434,410 US8218785B2 (en) 2008-05-05 2009-05-01 Conversation assistant for noisy environments

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US12630608P 2008-05-05 2008-05-05
US16953509P 2009-04-15 2009-04-15
US12/434,410 US8218785B2 (en) 2008-05-05 2009-05-01 Conversation assistant for noisy environments

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US8218785B2 true US8218785B2 (en) 2012-07-10

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WO (1) WO2009137363A2 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10362394B2 (en) 2015-06-30 2019-07-23 Arthur Woodrow Personalized audio experience management and architecture for use in group audio communication
US10878011B2 (en) 2018-02-05 2020-12-29 International Business Machines Corporation Cognitive ranking of terms used during a conversation
US10885080B2 (en) 2018-02-05 2021-01-05 International Business Machines Corporation Cognitive ranking of terms used during a conversation

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8723915B2 (en) * 2010-04-30 2014-05-13 International Business Machines Corporation Multi-participant audio/video communication system with participant role indicator
KR101067387B1 (ko) * 2011-04-15 2011-09-23 (주)알고코리아 무선 광통신을 이용한 보청 시스템
EP2939407B1 (fr) * 2012-12-27 2017-02-22 Robert Bosch GmbH Système de conférence et processus d'activation vocale dans celui-ci
US10277316B1 (en) 2017-05-01 2019-04-30 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air Force Free space optical headset

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US4977619A (en) 1986-10-01 1990-12-11 Crimmins James W Distributed infrared communication system
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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10362394B2 (en) 2015-06-30 2019-07-23 Arthur Woodrow Personalized audio experience management and architecture for use in group audio communication
US10878011B2 (en) 2018-02-05 2020-12-29 International Business Machines Corporation Cognitive ranking of terms used during a conversation
US10885080B2 (en) 2018-02-05 2021-01-05 International Business Machines Corporation Cognitive ranking of terms used during a conversation

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US20100142722A1 (en) 2010-06-10
WO2009137363A2 (fr) 2009-11-12
WO2009137363A3 (fr) 2010-02-18

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